by carterjmrn | Nov 5, 2019 | Ageing and Generations, Aging Technology
You’ve probably heard about Japan’s drive to ensure that you, me and everyone else in the country live long, prosper and become happy centenarians. Technology is being touted as an integral element in that plan. Three key tech themes for preserving, empowering and...
by carterjmrn | Oct 17, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
The Japanese are known for their love to travel, and there is one up-and-coming market segment to watch: young Japanese women outtravel their male cohorts by far. Here is the latest market research on female Japanese travelers. Japanese women have got money to spend...
by carterjmrn | Aug 20, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
Psychologists have been telling us for years now that personal investment made in experiences, rather than material goods, is the happiest cash you can spend. In 2019, people increasingly crave and cherish authentic experiences that stay with them as memories (and can...
by carterjmrn | Aug 15, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
You can knock on the doors of millions of residences in Japan 24/7—especially out in the countryside—and get no answer. That’s because these places are akiya, a term usually translated as “abandoned houses” but which also applies to properties that are simply...
by carterjmrn | Jun 11, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
Whether you call it solo katsu, the super-solo life or ohitorisama (“doing things on your own”), living single is big in Japan. I’m not talking only about so-called parasite singles, either—I mean fully independent individuals who are putting a mostly...
by carterjmrn | Jun 4, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
In the land of Japan Tobacco, is the smoky air clearing at last? Japan’s cities and office buildings have been gradually squeezing smokers into smaller confines, forbidding puffing away while walking on the street and creating smoking rooms that serve as havens and...
by carterjmrn | May 21, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
It really shouldn’t be this way, but the lives and careers of Japan’s highly educated and capable women are still dictated by how the country’s grey patriarchy thinks and acts. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for 2018 shows just how wide the gulf...
by carterjmrn | Feb 25, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
I must admit to witnessing the recent KonMari phenomenon with some bemusement. Like millions of others I did indeed buy Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up some time ago. Since I read the book I have tried to be mindful of its...
by carterjmrn | Jan 9, 2019 | Japan Market Entry, Market Research Methodology
Making it Big in Japan via Customer Centricity By Andrew Edsall I recently sat down with Timothy Connor of Synnovate Consulting regarding his experiences and insights gained from his years in the Japanese consumer market. BACKGROUND AND INTEREST IN JAPAN...